President:
Sarah Cavallaro
Prior to opening up Emerald Films, I had spent five years working as the head of sales for TV Commercial directors in their various high-end international production companies, Illustra films, Fred Levinson films, Nick Lewin of Lewin and Mathews. My clients were the largest Advertising Agencies in the world and the top Fortune 500 companies. I launched TV Commercial Directors into award winning, and high budget prestigious accounts, such as Revlon, (with Kim Alexis) Disney, (with Felicia Rashad) Kay Jewelers, (with Cindy Crawford) and many other Advertisers.
The mission of my work for 20 years in Emerald films was to build and maintain a profitable, and prestigious TV Commercial production company. As the President and Executive Producer, I wanted to find the needle in the haystack. When I opened it's doors in the late 80’s with the financial support of a feature film company, my goal was to build an unknown talented Director into a star TV commercial Director. In Emerald’s first year, the Director won a Clio.
Obsessed with the challenges of discovering, launching and re- launching Directors’ careers, over 20 years, Emerald shot numerous TV commercials, and billed over 200 million dollars. I am proud to say my Directors won many prestigious awards (Mobius, Clio, Juno, Gold/Silver Bessie) and helped many advertisers launch new brands, images and products, making us a part of “The American Dream” landscape.
After 20 years I morphed Emerald into developing and producing creative projects with Filmmaker/Artist Cosimo Cavallaro. My work is challenging and personally fulfilling. Cosimo’s visions push me beyond my own preconceived limitations showing me a stronger part of myself.
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Cosimo Cavallaro:
Director's Reel
Cosimo Cavallaro was born in Montreal in 1961. The son of Italian immigrants, he was raised both in Canada and in Italy. After extensive art training, Cosimo began his career as an Art Director on several feature films, including the “Lucky Star”with Max Fischer (Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Film). In 1984, Cosimo transitioned into a successful career as a Commercial TV Director in Canada, working for Boardwalk Pictures and for Derek Van Lint ("Alien") in Toronto (Le Verseau and Cinelaund Montreal). By 1988, he was in demand and directing in Europe and America for various production companies. He soon joined Emerald Films in the states, and set up his own production company Figaro Films in Montreal. His directing career thrived throughout the 90s. Cosimo directed spots for Molson, Lipton, Volkswagen, Canadian National, Bell Quebec, Chrysler ("Celine Dion"), and many others. Cavallaro has won directing awards including the Juno Award for Best Music Video (Boomtown ”Andrew Cash”), the BESSIE for Best TV Commercial Campaign, the Gold Cox International Advertising Award, and the Governor General’s Award in Canada. Cosimo was nominated "director of the year" by Publicite Club de Montreal, and also received the International Broadcasting Award.
At the height of his directorial success,
Cosimo transitioned back to his interest in fine art and began sculpting with perishables. His art installations quickly attracted mass media coverage—including CNN (Anderson Cooper), CBC, BBC, CBS, CNBC, FOX, NBC (Dateline), and PBS—and also generated buzz in art magazines, educational and religious journals, major national and international newspapers, and pop culture publications.
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